California Ct of Appeals upholds collateral source rule

California’s 4th District Court of Appeal issued an opinion last Monday holding that a prevailing plaintiff should be entitled to recover the full cost of her medical care, even if her private insurer paid a smaller, negotiated amount to cover all of her hospital and doctor bills. The opinion is called Howell v. Hamilton Meats, and it is available here. The Supreme Court of Illinois had held the same thing in a case called Wills v. Foster just last year.